The financial crisis has made it clear, if there ever was any doubt before it, that there is no longer a predetermined path that guarantees a successful career. The demise of Thelen, Howrey, LeBoeuf and others shows us how much the business of law has changed in less than five years.

Four years later, what have the effects of the financial crisis been on the paralegal profession?

—— Layoffs, reductions in salaries and more ——

Some paralegals have been passed over for promotion, and others have been laid off, furloughed, or told that they need to find new jobs since there was not enough work to keep them on at their law firm.

There is also a number of firms adopting a reduction in both salary and bonuses/, and even abandoning traditional systems of compensation for new systems driven by the need to increase profits.

New jobs are hard to find with recruitment delayed to better time suggesting that those who thought the large law firm was a safety net for their career have discovered now that there is no safety net.

—— "Performance Casualties" ——

We all have friends, some working in large and prestigious law firms, some in smaller ones, who have been told that they would not be promoted and should find another job, for a simple and unique reason: there is simply not enough work to keep them busy anymore.

The pressure is really strong on paralegals working for different practices, a strategy that used to work well during good economic times. But the financial crisis has changed all of that. For a lot of law firms, there is less work coming from their regular clients and that work is being given to paralegals within each practice group rather than to paralegals not attached to a specific group.

Additionally, associates try to keep more work for themselves to reach their billable hours requirements. As a result, without work, these paralegals can become "performance casualties" with their layoffs disguised as performance problems.

Moreover, with less work to go around, paralegals who remain employed are provided with fewer opportunities to learn new skills and, as importantly, fewer experiences that they can market elsewhere. Furthermore, at least in the case of new attorneys, deferrals are offered to the ones who wanted to do public interest work for a year.

These policies reflect the risk-averse behavior of law firms in a time of economic uncertainty and the resultant downturn in business.

It is not simply that work has dried up. The "bottom-line" orientation that drives promotion decisions has lead some young legal professionals to believe that professionalism no longer matters, if it ever did. The traditional way you might have been promoted, was to have partners or paralegal managers vouch for you. This traditional philosophy has been replaced by a bottom-line calculation: "How much is the firm's accounting department receiving in exchange for your time and effort?"

—— Other routes to a successful career? ——

With promotions in large and smaller law firms far less certain, young legal professionals look for other avenues for achieving their professional goals.

For example, resume can be bolstered by going back to paralegal school or earning paralegal certifications.

Finding a job at a small firm, even if it means sometimes to have fewer projects to work on, can also be beneficial for resume building, especially when it means more autonomy, more ways to control one's time, and more responsibility for client matters, as there is usually not as many professionals and managers working on a specific case in smaller settings.

Additionally, smaller law firms that are not highly differentiated may have an advantage in this market. With the economy downturn, more clients do not want to pay outrageous per hour bills anymore and get a second look at smaller law firms more focused on service and the specific needs of local clients and communities.

—— Large law firms v. small law firms ——

The current crisis has pushed firms to focus on their bottom line decisions and has made obvious the weaknesses of some large law firms as training grounds for young professionals.

While some argue that this new generation of paralegals is seeking "lifestyle" firms, many are still seeking out traditional attributes of professional status (autonomy and responsibility) in the face of narrowing opportunities. Many of the new paralegals have had to enter firms much smaller and less prestigious than they anticipated while in paralegal school.

However, there is the possibility that these new paralegals will find new and more rewarding opportunities than those offered at the traditional large law firms. Larger law firms are creating new pyramid structures by adding new positions at the bottom, employing more legal professionals on a contract basis and outsourcing more of the work.